Title: 19th Annual Health Economics Conference Abstract. The Center for Health and the Social Sciences (CHeSS) at The University of Chicago seeks funding to support continuation of the highly successful Annual Health Economics Conference (AHEC) to be held March 20-21, 2008 at the University of Chicago's Gleacher Conference Center. The AHEC conference uses a small conference format for rigorous presentation and discussion of health economics research, with special attention to its application to policy. In this context, the aims of this conference are: (1) to advance the policy applicability of health economics by exploring theoretical issues with high potential for application to real-world health settings; (2) to improve the policy relevance of empirical health economics by fostering research that emphasizes the study of important current policy questions using rigorous methods; and (3) to develop the next generation of health economic scholars by placing promising junior economists with high-profile senior economists in an intensive two-day, small group setting. This year the conference will build upon past success by (1) retaining the core structure and tradition of AHEC, with extensive discussion of leading-edge, policy- relevant research in health economics and (2) including two sessions that focus on two critical issues in pharmaceutical economics that are of current importance for public policy and AHRQ: 1) the economics of comparative effectiveness research, including drug safety and regulation, and 2) early analysis of the effects of the Medicare Part D Benefit. In addition, Nobel Laureate James Heckman will deliver a keynote address on early childhood exposures and their impact on health. The Annual Health Economics Conference brings together the leaders in the field of Health Economics to discuss and to present on issues that have a direct effect on public health policy in the US. The 19th annual Health Economics conference hopes to build upon the rich tradition established by the preceding Annual Health Economics Conferences. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]